The New Public Safety: Police Reform and the Lurking Threat to Civil Liberties

Efforts to reduce reliance on police have gained momentum since 2020, driven by a growing recognition that public safety is better served when addressed by experts in medicine, mental health, houselessness, and behavior intervention. But this rush to reimagine public safety carries a serious risk: a long history of abuse exists within social welfare systems, and the laws protecting us from police who perpetrate these types of abuses largely do not apply to EMTs, social workers, and other nonpolice responders. While commending efforts to remove police from places they do not belong, The New Public Safety: Police Reform and the Lurking Threat to Civil Liberties raises the alarm on the dangers these reforms can pose if undertaken without proper restraints and protections and offers practical, achievable solutions to address these threats.

Shawn Fields is Professor of Law at California Western School of Law and author of Neighborhood Watch: Policing White Spaces in America.